by Raven Snow
The only snag in the mood at the dinner table was Tina. She was seated between Peony and Willow staring down at the table as if deep in thought. She was still thinking about poor Jeana, no doubt. Hopefully, that would resolve itself soon—even though Rowen had a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn’t.
Chapter Five
The case of the missing librarian did not resolve itself. Police finally concluded that she was indeed a missing person. Tina was asked to give quite a few more statements, though there was still no sign of a body. At least Tina eventually went back to her own apartment. Peony and Willow still visited regularly and, with a great deal of reluctance, Tina returned to her work at the same library where it had happened.
Meanwhile, Aunt Lydia hadn’t given up on her fall wedding idea. She kept pushing the matter and, eventually, Rowen and Eric both broke down. Fall seemed as good a time as any other. Why not just get it out of the way and shut her up? Besides, Aunt Lydia was right. A wedding in Lainswich around that time of the year really would be gorgeous. So, Rowen and Eric gave Lydia a tentative ‘yes,’ and that tentative yes turned into a sincere one when Lydia began to go ahead and start planning.
The wedding would take place at the edge of their land. It ran near Main Street, so that was a good place for it. The pumpkins would really light up in the background. Lydia would officiate. She was ordained, it seemed.
Grammy, of course, was upset. She had made it very clear that she wanted the wedding to take place at the prison so that she could attend, but it hadn’t worked out that way. They were inviting Eric’s family. It was only his parents coming, really, but the thought of asking them to attend some weird prison wedding was just too much.
It was a small wedding. Rowen had never wanted anything grander than that. Still, she couldn’t help but be more than a little excited. Soon she would be a married woman. The closer it got to the date, the more strangely she felt about that.
Rowen tried to keep herself busy with work. The Jeana case had held everyone’s attention for a while, but it was less and less front page news lately. She had gone from talk of the town to a local mystery people pondered about aloud on occasion. Ben still had his hands full with it. Other matters had drawn his attention, but the Jeana case was still unsolved.
Tina had gone back to work, though she swung by the Lainswich Inquirer often on her breaks. She wasn’t quite the same lately. She seemed a little more solemn, less likely to go looking for attention. It was a little depressing, honestly. It made Rowen more certain than ever that she really had seen something that night at the library.
Similarly, Margo was a little odd these days. Norman was still around and had moved into the house, even though there were no free bedrooms. He slept on the sofa, which made living there exceptionally awkward. Mostly, he sat around and watched television. He had talked about looking for a job for a while, but nothing had ever come of it.
The family was annoyed. Margo and Tiffany made an effort to spend time with him, but everyone else clearly wanted him gone. He had been away from the family for so long, and he fit in worse than Tiffany had when she returned.
At least Margo had David. To no one’s surprise, those two were spending a whole lot of time together. They weren’t officially an item again yet, but it was only a matter of time.
David was still working on that book of his. Margo revisited the places with him that he decided needed revisiting. She helped him set up meetings with people he thought needed to be interviewed. That’s what she was doing today.
As a result, Roland Davies was seated in Rowen’s office with Margo and David today. He had been one of Dakota’s intended victims. Before that, he had been very outspoken in his distaste for the Greensmiths. He had stood outside of their office with signs and a lot of harsh words, preaching to anyone who would listen about how they were a bunch of sinful witches.
After Rowen had saved him from Dakota, Roland had been a little more tolerant. He had mellowed out even more when the Greensmiths had made a point to invite him to dinner once a week or so. It turned out that he was just a really lonely guy. A little human kindness went a long way—even if it was from a bunch of witches.
Rowen could hear Roland through the door to her office now, recounting the time Dakota had come after him. Rowen listened for a bit and made a point to invite him over for dinner when he was finished. He was helping David out without asking for anything in return, and he’d come all the way out here to do it. The least she could do was spend some time with him.
It made Rowen look up from her laptop when the door to her office opened rather suddenly. Roland was coming out, followed by Margo and David. Rowen raised an eyebrow at them, puzzled.
“I saw a news van,” said Roland, pointing back to one of the windows in Rowen’s office.
“A news van?” Rowen repeated, rising. She was the only one in the office aside from them at the moment. Willow and Peony were taking pictures of the Fall Festival parade setup, and Rose was out for lunch. “They pulled around back?”
“They’re trying to surprise us,” said Margo, sounding wary.
Rowen didn’t want to be quite so paranoid about it as that, but Margo was probably right. It was likely Julia Martinez. She was the only other source of news in Lainswich. She, like so many others, had no love for the Greensmiths. If anything, she thought of them as unworthy rivals. All too often, they got the scoop by virtue of being on friendly terms with the local police chief. Julia was too professional to say all this aloud, but the resentment was more in what she didn’t say. For instance, she never gave them the courtesy of a warning when she was swinging over to try and get a story from them.
Rowen wasn’t going to just hide in her office. She wanted to get to the bottom of this quickly. She went out the front door to intercept the news crew, flanked by David and Margo, and tailed by Roland.
Julia Martinez seemed surprised to find them waiting for her. She and her camera man stopped short. Her smile fell, then returned in an instant, pearly white and forced. “Rowen!” She turned and motioned for her camera man to start shooting. “We’re here with Rowen Greensmith, niece of Norman Greensmith.”
The name made Rowen cringe. Immediately, she knew what this must be about. Rowen shoved her hand right at the lens of the camera while Margo went for the boom mike.
“Watch it,” warned Julia, breaking character with a scowl.
“You can tell me what’s going on, but you’re not going to blindside me and put me all over the local news,” Rowen warned.
Julia frowned but motioned for the camera man to lower his camera. “Fine,” she said.
“What’s this about?” asked Rowen, certain that Julia would tell her. Julia wanted to report her reaction, whether she got footage or not. She could report it over video of Rowen blocking the camera.
“Your uncle was taken in over suspected involvement in the McCormick case,” said Julia, her gaze level with Rowen’s.
Rowen looked at Margo only to find that Margo was already heading back into the building, followed closely by David. That left Rowen alone with the reporters and Roland.
“Do you know what this involvement might have been, specifically?” asked Julia, implying that she didn’t know much.
“I wouldn’t know,” lied Rowen. “I’m not close to my uncle.” That last part, at least, was true. “Now, if you’ll excuse me…” Rowen turned to head back into the office.
“Excuse me, Sir.” Julia had turned on Roland. “Do you have an opinion on these recent developments?” No doubt she recognized Roland from standing outside their building with colorful signs. She probably thought she was likely to get something scandalous from him.
“The Greensmiths that live in Lainswich are decent people,” said Roland, his arms crossed over his chest. “I can’t speak to the ones that don’t live here, but I think you folks should stop harassing your own neighbors.”
Rowen wasn’t sure that would help much, but it warmed her heart to hear a man like Rol
and at least try to defend them. She continued on inside. Margo was already on the phone, relaying what had happened to someone. It was likely Lydia, considering Rowen could hear someone’s exclamations of outrage from here. Rowen wasn’t sure telling Lydia first was the best course of action. She would definitely make a scene.
“What do you think this is all about?” asked David, coming up to Rowen and lowering his voice.
Rowen sighed. She hadn’t mentioned it, but she probably should have before now. “Norman was previously in a relationship with Jeana, and he came back into town around the time she went missing.”
That got Margo’s attention. She put down the phone and looked over at Rowen. “My dad was involved with that woman who went missing?” she asked. “How do you know? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Rowen shrugged helplessly. “I found out when I took him with me to visit Grammy. She brought it up. I didn’t tell you because you seemed to have enough on your plate, already. I didn’t want to stress you out for no reason.”
“My father wouldn’t murder anyone,” Margo said firmly. “He’s a jerk, but he’s not a murderer.”
“I know,” Rowen said quickly. Grammy might be capable of murder, but Norman wasn’t. If nothing else, he was far too cowardly. He didn’t have the backbone for it. “That’s part of why I didn’t say anything. It seemed like a coincidence to me.”
“Did you say anything to Ben?” asked Margo.
Rowen shook her head. “I didn’t think it was worth mentioning.” She rather regretted not saying anything now. Had she just gotten this out of the way, it probably would have been less dramatic.
Margo groaned. Her attention was directed to the door as it opened. Roland was coming back inside. Rose was with him. She was trying to avoid questions being shouted after her by Julia.
“Welcome back,” said Rowen, putting some sarcasm in her tone. “Just what you wanted to come back from work to, huh?”
“Is this about Norman?” Rose asked, looking a little shaken.
Margo frowned. “How did you know?” she asked.
“I knew Ben was taking him in for questioning today,” said Rose.
“How did you know that?” Rowen talked to Ben rather regularly. Even she hadn’t seen this coming.
Rose looked more than a little sheepish. She stopped where she was and looked down at her feet. “I was the one who mentioned Uncle Norman’s relationship with Jeana to him,” she admitted.
Rowen stared. She couldn’t believe that. “Seriously?” she asked. “Why?”
“You told Rose but not me?” Margo asked, turning on Rowen.
Rowen threw her hands up, not sure she was the one who should be getting pressed for answers right now. “I mentioned it to her a while back. I wanted a second opinion on it. I didn’t know she was going to go to Ben with the news… Why in the world did you go to Ben with the news?”
Rose shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said, still looking at her feet. “We were having lunch together yesterday and it just came up. I wanted to get his opinion on it like you got mine, I guess.”
“He’s the chief of police!” Rowen said, groaning. “He can’t just give you his opinion. He has to do his job!”
“Well, he didn’t suspect him or anything,” Rose said quickly. “He just wanted to see if he couldn’t get some answers. He said every possibility needed to be looked into.”
“It’s not that I’m worried about,” Rowen said. She knew Norman hadn’t done anything. Ben likely knew that too—or would after he had spent thirty minutes in a room with Norman. “I’m worried about what the town is going to think. Lainswich is a small place, you know? Something like this is going to get out. It already has gotten out! It’s going to look bad. When something like this happens, our family is always at the center of it, somehow.”
Rose continued not to make eye contact with anyone. “I thought it would be lower profile than this. Norman made a fuss when they brought him in. I didn’t see that coming. I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t see Norman making a fuss?” Rowen asked, hardly believing that. Norman was nearly as dramatic about things as Aunt Lydia.
“I didn’t think!” Rose snapped, which was a mistake.
Margo had been very close to flying off the handle, and this gave her an excuse. “Next time do us all a favor and think,” she snapped. “Now, I have to go down to the station and sort all of this out, so, thanks for that.” Margo shouldered past Rose, making her stumble on her way out the door. David once again close behind her.
Eric was coming in as they left. There was a bag of takeout on his arm and a confused expression on his face. He glanced after them and then at Rowen giving her a puzzled look.
Rowen spread her hands, implying that she didn’t know where to begin. An explanation could wait. “It’s all right, Rose,” Rowen said, trying to pick up the pieces a bit. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I know that!” snapped Rose. That was a bit of a surprise right there. Rose was usually so mild-mannered. “Sorry,” she added, taking a deep breath.
“You know the police are outside, right?” asked Eric, speaking quietly, like he was afraid to interrupt.
Rowen nodded. “Thanks for bringing lunch. We’ll have to eat it in the car. We’ve got to go to the police station.”
Eric gave a groan but seemed unsurprised. “All right. I’ll drive.” It was like nothing threw him for a loop anymore.
“I’ll stay here and work,” said Rose. That was probably for the best.
“I guess I’ll go home?” ventured Roland, sounding uncertain since the people who were interviewing him had just rushed off in a hurry.
“Oh, Mr. Davies!” Rowen had nearly forgotten he was even there. “I’m so sorry!”
“These things happen,” said Roland, though he sounded uncertain about that himself.
“Swing by our house tonight for dinner?” offered Rowen, as she did regularly.
“You seem busy,” said Roland, though it was obvious he was still tempted by the offer. He wasn’t the kind of guy who got out much.
“There’s always something going on,” insisted Rowen. “Swing by if you can. We would love to have you. Sorry those two ran out on you.” Now Rowen had to do the same. She left the office, followed by Eric.
The news crew was still outside, getting some establishing shots. Rowen ignored them and hurried to the car. She could hear the sound of Julia Martinez hurrying after her with her camera man just before she threw the car door open and scrambled in.
It was only once they were on the road that Rowen explained what was going on. Eric already knew that Norman and Jeana had dated. He had been there when Grammy mentioned as much.
“That man isn’t a murderer,” said Eric, giving a laugh at the very idea. “I’ve been living under the same roof as him for a while now. He’s a lot of things, but murderer isn’t one of them.”
“I would be shocked,” said Rowen.
Eric pulled up outside the police station. David’s car was already parked just outside. Rowen got out before Eric could even make a full stop. She needed to get in there before Margo could make a scene. Margo had never been the best at controlling her temper. Maybe she had gotten her flare for the dramatic from her father.
The receptionist glowered when Rowen burst through the front door. “Another one,” she said flatly. “Why is it that, when one of you shows up, the others aren’t far behind?”
The people who worked at the police station were no great fans of the Greensmith family. Ben didn’t mind them, but everyone else was thoroughly sick of seeing them filter through. “Where’s my cousin?” asked Rowen, not bothering to apologize. Her family got emotional when they thought one of their own was in trouble. She wasn’t going to apologize for that.
The receptionist held up a finger. She lifted the phone at her desk and dialed some numbers. “I’ve got one−”
The door opened and Eric came in, his car keys still in hand.
“Two,�
�� the receptionist corrected. “I’ve got two Greensmiths here for you. Do you want me to send them back?” She listened for a moment, and then hung up. “Go on,” she told them. “He’s in his office.”
Rowen headed for Ben’s office. She knew where it was by heart now. The door was closed, so she knocked.
“I’m a Greensmith now?” Eric asked while they waited.
Rowen smirked. “You might as well be.”
“I didn’t realize I was taking your name,” he pointed out.